The Seattle mayoral race in 2013 is over, with incumbent Mike McGinn defeated by challenger Ed Murray, a longtime state lawmaker.
Updated election results Wednesday night showed state Sen. Ed Murray winning the race with 56 percent of the vote.
Mayor Mike McGinn’s campaign had held out hope that later ballots would trend in his favor. While the numbers showed some slight improvement for him Wednesday, he was still losing among those more recent ballots.
Murray said the victory is a sign of a city craving leaders who will bring people together to solve problems.
“We want Seattle to be an example of how government can function,” he said.
McGinn said on Thursday morning: “I took controversial positions. I did what I thought was right.”
“If you take a look at Murray’s agenda, that is the agenda I ran on 4 years ago,” he added, reported KIRO-7.
“I let him know he was going to be in for an extraordinary four years,” McGinn said.
The two candidates had largely campaigned with similar policy positions, but they offered contrasting styles of how to lead the Northwest’s largest city. Murray’s call for a more collaborative approach led him to build a broad range of endorsements and financial support.
In their campaign to court the left-leaning voters, the two mayoral candidates embraced ideas such as a $15 minimum wage, new taxes and legal marijuana. They each have lengthy backgrounds championing liberal causes in the Seattle area.
Before becoming mayor, McGinn was an activist with the environmental group Sierra Club, and he has continued to stake out a message of environmental stewardship. McGinn often rides his bike around Seattle, is pushing for pension fund money to be divested from coal companies, and is an advocate for expanded transit services.
Murray said McGinn’s approach during his first term has alienated groups and political leaders in Olympia, making it harder for Seattle to win support for its priorities. McGinn had questioned Murray’s effectiveness given that a Republican-dominated majority now controls the state Senate.
Combined, Murray and McGinn raised and spent more than $1 million, with Murray leading the money race by a few hundred thousand dollars.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
